Statewide Needs Assessment

Background and Findings to Date

Background

In 2021, the UC OAI was awarded a grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Organic Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) to develop a statewide survey of organic growers, consultants, certifiers and other stakeholders to identify the key challenges they faced, as well as to characterize the existing knowledge networks that they relied on for information about organic production, postharvest and marketing. This information can then be used to prioritize the various programmatic activities of the UC Organic Agriculture Institute.

This project utilized a combination of written surveys and semi-structured interviews. The initial surveys were developed over the fall of 2022 and then launched in January 2023. Interviews took place over the spring/summer of 2023. We are now in the process of launching our final survey, which is focused on knowledge networks. 

Preliminary Results

Please click here ( OAI's summary of findings from the statewide needs assessment ) to download a summary of our initial findings from these surveys. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at: organic@ucanr.edu